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Sunday, February 1, 2009

UMNO will get Changkat Jering and Behrang seat, but not without a fight

It was a sad ending as UMNO waiting for an announcement from both of PKR assemblymen to defect to their party, but the waiting was ended with both of them resigning from exco post and vacant their seat, paves the way for a new by-elections. The UMNO will have to fight first before they get the seat, but if and if they win, if not.... Najib and Dollah since a last few days were already dreaming to get those two men and start spreading a lies through their main stream media as usual, telling that both will defect to BN... now their wait is over... thanks to both PKR men with a strong principle and I really respect both of you..... but the latest news telling that one of them did not resign, and the story continues...

IPOH: The Perak government is teetering on the edge with the resignation of two PKR representatives announced by the state assembly speaker V. Sivakumar earlier Sunday being challenged.

Sivakumar said he had received two faxed letters stating that Jamaluddin Mat Radzi and Mohd Osman Jailu had resigned their posts as assemblymen of Behrang and Changkat Jering respectively.

Their resignations are effective 5:45pm Sunday, he said in a statement, adding that this paved the way for by-elections in the two constituencies within 60 days, he added.

He said he would inform the Election Commission officially Monday morning.

The Commission would then deliberate if by-elections are to be called and when.

However, Jamaluddin later Sunday denied he had quit and said he would challenge the validity of the resignation letter.

“This is an undated letter that I and six other PKR assemblymen were made to sign in March last year,” he said.

The letter was essentially a pledge of loyalty, saying that if they were to ever quit PKR, they would automatically vacate their seats.

“I am still Behrang assemblyman,” Jamaluddin said.

Their resignations, if valid, ended days of speculation that they were going to defect to Umno.

The Pakatan Rakyat state government is left with a razor-thin margin. It now holds 30 state seats against Barisan Nasional’s 27, with two seats up for grabs in the 59-seat State Assembly if by-elections are called.

If they do jump ship to Umno or any other Barisan component party, the tally would be a mere 30 to 29.

Worse, rumours are also rife that Perak state assembly deputy speaker Hee Yit Fong, the DAP representative for Jelapang, is going to resign as well and join MCA.

If that happens, and the two PKR reps are allowed to defect and hold on to their seats, Barisan would hold the majority.

When contacted at her home Sunday night, Hee declined to comment.

Missing in actionEarlier Sunday, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said that neither the state nor family members had been able to reach the two Perak state executive councillors.

He even said the state government would lodge a police report after consulting with their families.

Jamaluddin, 52, was the Perak Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Committee chairman while Mohd Osman, 57, headed the State Tourism and NGO Committee.

They were charged in a Sessions Court on Aug 25 last year with allegedly receiving bribes over the application for a RM180mil housing project in Sri Iskandar in Perak Tengah. Their case comes up for hearing on Feb 10.

After Umno’s Bota assemblyman Datuk Nasarudin Hashim crossed over to PKR last week, PKR and Umno have been involved in a psychological war, with both accusing each other of trying to pinch their assemblymen.

Jamaluddin and Mohd Osman have not been seen in public since Nasarudin crossed over to PKR last Sunday, with the media also failing to reach them for comments.

Speculation had been rife in Perak that the exco duo were going to resign from PKR and become Independents before joining Umno later.

No worriesPAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa said he only knew about the resignation Sunday night and had yet to receive a full report on the matter.

“I do not think that there would be more (people resigning or defecting). As it is, we are calling for a meeting to discuss the matter.

“More will be known on Monday morning,” he said, adding that the decision on who would contest in the by-elections had yet to be reached.

PKR information chief Tian Chua said that PKR is confident that it would be able to retain the seats in Behrang and Changkat Jering.

“We’re not worried -- we have succeeded in taking over the two seats from Barisan in the past, let alone retaining what we already have,” he said.